The present invention relates to a device for fitting shop windows.
A first type of existing device for fitting shop windows consists of a low, narrow cart on four wheels, including two pivoting wheels, enabling a window to be placed vertically inside the cart, the vertical posts of which grip the lower parts of the window while supporting a large portion of the weight. Held manually by two window fitters using vacuum suction means, the window is wheeled towards its frame and positioned in parallel, then hoisted by hand on to previously positioned shims.
There also exist known truck-mounted hydraulic cranes whose motions are of a circular type because of the action of the jacks close to the rotation hubs. These systems therefore cannot be used to bring a window to less than some centimeters from its frame. Furthermore, there can be little control over the precision of the hydraulic motions (through control over the slowness of the starting, stopping and lowering of the tensioned arm).
Apart from this lack of precision in their motions, hydraulic cranes have other drawbacks:
the need for at least three operators: one at the controls and at least two for fitting at close quarters, depending on the weight of the window, PA1 difficult, frequent and costly maintenance of the hydraulic systems, PA1 danger for operators working at close quarters in contact with the glass, PA1 the need to position two shims that bear the weight of the window on the frame before it is fitted in, subsequently entailing the drawback of difficult and dangerous shim-adjusting operations. The result thereof may be that the windows may crack either through thermal shock or because they have a curvature with respect to the frame that is difficult to correct in each of the two planes, PA1 the impossibility of using this type of fitting device when there are pavements or steps between the hydraulic machines and the window frames, PA1 the impossibility also of bringing the window closer because of the upper elbow of the hinged arm of the cranes when there are balconies, projections whose lower part is close to the top of the frames of the windows to be replaced, PA1 the impossibility, for the crane trucks, of getting close to the frames because of narrow or excessively wide streets, trees and/or urban fixtures that form obstacles to them, PA1 the need for starting and braking torque values of a kind that no machine has been hitherto able to work with actually and/or durably in submillimetrical motion without the risk of breakage of glass, PA1 the appearance on these known machines of incipient "return" motions that are also detrimental. PA1 a base provided with roller means, PA1 two independently operable vertical hoisting means fixed to said base, PA1 a ram supported by both said hoisting means and comprising axial translation means, PA1 a suction cap structure positioned at one end of said ram, PA1 two independently operable translation means for the transversal translation of the ram positioned at the top points of said hoisting means, PA1 means for the rotation of said suction cap structure, firstly about the axis of said ram and secondly about an axis parallel to the direction of the motion of the hoisting means.